Video games are a big deal in today’s world, but that is nothing new. In this week’s episode Josh and Austin chat about the history of video games, how they perform in our economy, and what investing in them may look like. They will talk through their personal opinions and what video games interest them they most. All of this and more on The Invested Dads podcast!
Main Talking Points
[2:48] – History of Video Games
[12:56] – Dad Joke of the Week
[13:47] – The Economics of Video Games
[18:40] – Investing in Video Games
[23:24] – Should You Invest in Video Games
[24:51] – Do Josh & Austin Play Video Games?
Links & Resources
Video Game Industry – Wikipedia
7 Video Game ETFs That Will Make You a Winner
The Economics of Competitive Video Gaming
Invest With Us – The Invested Dads
Free Guide: 8 Timeless Principles of Investing
Social Media
Full Transcript
Intro:
Welcome to The Invested Dads Podcast, simplifying financial topics so that you can take action and make your financial situation better. Helping you to understand the current world of financial planning and investments. Here are your hosts, Josh Robb and Austin Wilson.
Austin Wilson:
All right. Hey, Hey. Hey, welcome back to the invested dads podcast, a podcast where we take you on a journey to better your financial future. Today, we’re going to be talking about something that’s going to bring us back to our college selves. And that is video games.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, this is great. Cause I was actually thinking about, we need to do this topic. I was thinking about that a while ago.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, it’s something that is… It’s a huge part of a lot of people’s lives and it’s actually a growing part of company’s businesses. So, I think this is something that we should definitely talk about and kind of talk about, the history of video games. Talk about investing in video games, talking about kind of the video gaming economy and stuff like that. So yeah, you were thinking about this recently?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, it must’ve been about a fortnight ago.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, stop. Okay, so Fortnite, right? It’s the biggest video game in the world.
Josh Robb:
Big game.
Austin Wilson:
Probably. I have never played it ever.
Josh Robb:
That’s because you’re all Apple and Apple kick them out.
Austin Wilson:
Well, they got to get their 30% cut. No, but I’ve seen it on the news or whatever, little clips of it, but it just… I’ve never really had the desire. I have an Xbox, I’ve never had the desire to play Fortnite and I don’t know.
Josh Robb:
It’s funny because-
Austin Wilson:
I don’t get out much Josh.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, with my kids, even Malakai and Sawyer can play it and do well. So it tells you, it’s a very easy game to play, the skill levels not that you need to be some expert gamer to have fun in it. And so, even Malakai, who’s six, the other day, he’s like, “Oh dad, I got a battle Royale.” Which means he won out of the 100 players, he was the last one.
Austin Wilson:
There you go.
Josh Robb:
And I’m like, “I feel bad for all those people who don’t know that they just got beat by a six year old.” Or when my daughter plays-
Austin Wilson:
Was that his birthday present?
Josh Robb:
Yeah. When my daughter plays, you can build structures as part of the game, you can build things. She just over there fishing and building and I looked-
Austin Wilson:
That’s not the point.
Josh Robb:
… To her, and I’m like, “How did you eliminate five people when you’re just over there with a fishing pole?” And she’s like, “I don’t know.”
Austin Wilson:
That’s so funny.
Josh Robb:
It’s hilarious to me, but that’s the appeal of the game though, is anybody can pick it up and do it. And that’s the same with a lot of video games, right?
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
The appeal is, how broad of an audience can you get to use that?
[2:48] – History of Video Games
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, for sure. So, Josh video games have been around pretty much all of our lives for sure. But, kind of go through, even before that, some of the history of how some of this video game thinking and technology got started.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, so let’s go way to the 1940s.
Austin Wilson:
Wow, even before you were born.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, way back there. And so, early games were just… When you think of a video game nowadays, it’s totally different. So, back in the day it was just some sort of interaction you get to do using electronics. So, one of the earliest ones you can think of is Tic-Tac-Toe. If they had a digital display to allow you to choose which section you were putting the Tic-TAC-Toe in. And, someone besides you could choose this Xs and Os you could use, that would be a video game. Because, you were using the video monitor as a way of… Instead of a piece of paper. So, way be back in the early forties, that was kind of what started it. And then, over time is TVs were developed and they had the tubes. Then there was the ability to hold more data.
Josh Robb:
There was more advancements in this technology. But really-
Austin Wilson:
So, I’m going to go off on a Tic-Tac tangent.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
See what I did there?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, I get it.
Austin Wilson:
So, Tic-Tac-Toe reminds me that when I was a… I don’t know, I was a sophomore or junior in high school. I took my only chemistry class in my life, chemistry in high school and it was horrible and I did not like it and I didn’t understand it and I didn’t do that well in it. But anyway, I didn’t want to pay attention because I didn’t like it. So my friend, and if you’re listening Bryce Baumgartner, he and I sat across from each other in chemistry class. And figure it out exactly how many different options that you could have to win. And, what you had to do to win no matter who starts where Tic-Tac-Toe we went through them all and it was pretty intense. So, it seems like we should play sometimes.
Josh Robb:
Of course, you can do that in a stat class instead of a chemistry class.
Austin Wilson:
That’s right. It’s not chemistry, no wonder. I didn’t like it, but so Josh, next time I’m in your office with a whiteboard, we’re going to play Tic-Tac-Toe.
Josh Robb:
You know why you didn’t like chemistry?
Austin Wilson:
Uh-oh.
Josh Robb:
You didn’t look at that elements table enough. Yeah, because I was always told you, you need to look at it periodically.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, Periodically just doesn’t cut it on the elements table.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, all right, so.
Austin Wilson:
So, flash forward a little bit from the 40s.
Josh Robb:
So, 40s is when It started, but again, it was just very basic. It was more just used as a screen or a way there wasn’t a lot of storage there. But in the seventies, the arcade games started coming out. So when you think of an arcade as a location, you go to with a bunch of different things there. So, that was in the early seventies is kind of where that popularity kicked in and they had their own kind of structures that the game itself was housed in. And then in 1972, Atari released the first commercially successful game, can you guess what that was?
Austin Wilson:
I think I’ve heard of my mom talking about it from back in the day Pong, right?
Josh Robb:
Pong, yeah. So, have you seen pong?
Austin Wilson:
Yes, it’s archadic.
Josh Robb:
Archadic, I like it,
Austin Wilson:
No its archaic, yeah. It’s pretty old school looking, one joystick and maybe one button.
Josh Robb:
Bouncing back and forth, it’s this… They sold over 19,000 of these little units and they were separate. If you want your own Pong and you didn’t buy a little cartridge like we do now and put it in a system, you bought the giant arcade cabinet to play it in. But, that’s where you start seeing them show up everywhere.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, I wanted to put a disclaimer out there for any listeners that think the audio quality might not be perfect or it might be breaking up. We are recording this remotely, so forgive any audio imperfections you hear, because I’m hearing some as we’re recording it.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, and so after that, then those were in grocery stores and arcade places. And, these units were, were big, and then in the mid seventies you had video game councils start to show up, Atari was one of them, a Magnavox had another one. And so, 1977, 1978 is when, again, when we think of technology, as things get cheaper, then there’s a lot of innovation that happens. So, as chips within these devices got cheaper, they had huge innovation. And so, there was a crash in the late 70s, actually Space Invaders came out right after this crash.
So, what happened was all the different people started making their version of pong and selling them. And so, there were just a saturation, and so eventually things just kind of crashed because there was just too much in the market. And then-
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, because the cost of the components, the cost of those chips. And we talked about that in a different episode, they’ve just dropped because they got so good and efficient and manufacturing them. The materials came down probably tied somewhat to the oil crash in the early seventies.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
And that caused everything to get really cheap and everyone had to make them. And then, there was too many options where the whole industry just kind of tanked.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. So then, we saw a bunch of businesses go out and then Space Invaders came out. So, Space Invaders kind of revitalized the gaming industry, in that they were what is known as the first killer app. And, what that means is just it’s a game or an application that is so popular that it makes people buy the console to play it on. And so, if I didn’t own an Atari, when Space Invaders came out, I went out and bought the Atari system just so I could play the Space Invaders game.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
And so, they quadrupled the sales of the Atari system, even though that system was three years old, people went out and quadrupled the sales when space invaders came out. So, that kind of revitalize the gaming industry and brought about kind of this golden age or that kind of the first golden age of gaming.
Austin Wilson:
Probably similar to what you see with when a new Halo. When Halo came out people probably were like, “Oh my goodness, I can’t get this anywhere else, I need to buy an Xbox right now.”
Josh Robb:
Yep, it’s just like Nintendo.
Austin Wilson:
When any of the Mario games… Yeah. They’re like I have to go buy a Nintendo 64, it just has to happen. So, that’s a great example, thanks.
Josh Robb:
And so, that went from the mid 1970s through the 1980s. In 1983, revenue for the gaming industry peaked at $3.2 billion in 1983 dollars. So, that’s like 18 million today or something like that, it’s crazy. But $3.2 billion, then it fell by 1985 to just a 100 million, that’s a 97% drop in revenue over two years.
Austin Wilson:
That’s crazy.
Josh Robb:
Again, it was over saturation, there’s some really crazy stories. So, if you ever go and look up that kind of big drop in the video game industry in the eighties. There’s a couple of games that are kind of the example of this, in that ET, The extra terrestrial. They came out with a game for that and they rushed the development. They did it in, I don’t know, 12 months or something like that. And, the game was just horrible. And so, there’s rumors that they buried hundreds of thousands of these unsold games in a landfill because just no one bought them.
Austin Wilson:
Really?
Josh Robb:
Yeah. And so, I mean, the whole thing fell apart. It was revitalized again when Nintendo came out with their Nintendo entertainment system, the original Nintendo. And, that was the first time that they really took modern kind of graphics, put it in a console. And then, it had interchangeable games that were just a lot better than what they had seen in the past. And, that really revitalized-
Austin Wilson:
And that was probably in the late eighties?
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
Gotcha.
Josh Robb:
And then, from there you really have three main players. You have Nintendo, you have Sega, which is around for a while, and then you have Sony, which is the PlayStation, and now you have the X-Box, which is Microsoft.
Austin Wilson:
Wow.
Josh Robb:
It went from hundreds of different companies making their own things, to now it’s really narrowed down to… There’s really today, just three, you have the Sony PlayStation, the Xbox and the Nintendo. So, that’s really the three big players. Now there’s a fourth one, which is in PC gaming, which is a whole different one, which we’ll talk a little bit about, but that’s a whole different sector in that you’re using your personal computer to play games on.
Austin Wilson:
That is a crazy history of where we got to be today. And yeah, I think that having grown up in the video game era, as opposed to maybe our parents, it’s kind of definitely changed the way that we interact with people more than it did back then. So, it’s definitely changed the economic landscape of, what people, our age spent money on when they were growing up and through college and even today.
Josh Robb:
Well, and you talked about that, how you interact. So, when these original games came out, you would go to an arcade place to play them. And, there was an interaction there with other people. And then, it went to in-home where you’re kind of isolated playing by yourself or at most two or three or four other people in your room that connect to the same system. And, we’ve since gone back to, now you can play online and have multiple people you’re playing with and communicate with them using microphones and speakers and stuff. So, it really has changed over the years on, who plays? And how you play it? It’s not just you by yourself, like it was for a while.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly, yeah. It’s a little bit… I think it’s a lot more socially acceptable, you’re not a weirdo who sits at home, playing video games by herself and doesn’t have any friends now. Because, now your friends are on video games with you.
Josh Robb:
I saw a thing that said, “You know, in 2019, if you were unemployed and sat in your basement playing video games, you were a loser. In 2020, that’s a responsible adult.”
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, thanks COVID.
Josh Robb:
With quarantine, that’s the best thing to do, is sit in the basement and play your video games away from everybody else.
Austin Wilson:
Well, I’ve been watching Microsoft. We’re going to talk more about investments in the space later, but I was, I’ve been watching Microsoft stock obviously this whole year. And, they have X-Box is a large chunk of their business, and the numbers that they’ve seen through COVID. And on people buying, not necessarily buying systems, systems have been good. But, people interacting online, user engagement, people buying things on their marketplace, all that stuff is, was hugely up in 2020. Just due to the fact that for at least for months, people were generally pretty much at home.
[12:56] – Dad Joke of the Week
Josh Robb:
All right. So let’s do a dad joke of the week. In fact, I got two dad jokes that are video game related.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, bring it.
Josh Robb:
Okay, here’s the first one, what is a close talkers favorite video game? So, you know those people that just tend to be really close talkers? They just all up in your space.
Austin Wilson:
I tend to avoid those people like the plague, but go ahead.
Josh Robb:
Their favorite-
Austin Wilson:
I do not know.
Josh Robb:
Video game is Space Invaders.
Austin Wilson:
That’s really funny.
Josh Robb:
Now, I’ll follow up with just a question. Do the French play video games?
Austin Wilson:
Oui.
Josh Robb:
Wii.
Austin Wilson:
Ah see, I said that without even thinking what I was saying.
Josh Robb:
You said it, then you realized it’s the Nintendo Wii.
[13:47] – The Economics of Video Games
Austin Wilson:
It’s the video game. Okay, Josh, those are classics shows your dad-ness because you’re qualified four times over. But, let’s talk a little bit more about kind of the scale of video games. So, according to Wikipedia in 2018, so this is a little… This is about a year and change old, video games in total generated sales of about $135 billion worldwide. Billions, b.
Josh Robb:
That’s a lot.
Austin Wilson:
134. And, that has not declined since that number came out. I would imagine that 2019 is higher in 2020 is going to be even higher. So, there’s this new term that really just became popular, within the last handful of years, and it’s Esports right?
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
So, Esports are electronic sports or really video games where you’re competing with one another competitively online. And, there was a great article from smartasset.com that I’ll link in the show notes, but had a couple cool points about this new area of video games. And it says, “Before COVID hit, the rise of competitive or even professional video gaming was here. But since then, and even before dozens of leagues and three major governing bodies for video game competitions now exists across the world. And actually the largest player and fan bases in South Korea.” Which is crazy to me, but they’re just really all about that.
Josh Robb:
Isn’t that where Samsung is?
Austin Wilson:
It is, yes Samsung is there. So-
Josh Robb:
They are going to give free systems.
Austin Wilson:
Maybe a lot of their products… Yeah. Or free phone, maybe they’re all gaming from the Samsung smartphones. Hey, you’re a Samsung guy.
Josh Robb:
I am.
Austin Wilson:
Maybe you’re part of that Josh. So, as video games and the companies have grown in size and profits, they’ve been able to invest in the growing their games, becoming more immersive, more realistic. And, this has allowed people to get realistic interactions, quote unquote on a podcast here with air quotes, virtually that they’ve never been able to have. So think of like sports games, racing games, shooting games. These are examples… Or even role-playing games. These are examples of things that you can’t just go outside and do most people can and do it like, well, or do it safely or whatever.
A lot of these things, there’s a lot of risk or you’re just not going to be able to find a light saber in the real world where you can have one and a video game. So, that is something that has made video games much more attractive over time and really grown the area of Esports where people are like, “Hey, I can compete in this. I’m pretty good at this video game.” And, they just form groups and these groups compete and people literally make money. People make livings six figures plus playing video games professionally, that is crazy. So this-
Josh Robb:
The side market with that too, is not only do they make money playing video games, but they make money, streaming them playing the games. So, there’s sites out there like Twitch and some other ones, Amazon actually has their own, I think now too. Where you can stream while you’re playing and people are going to watch you play the game.
Austin Wilson:
Yep. Yeah, and YouTube is huge for that too. There’s a lot of YouTube professional video gamers that have YouTube channels, that record them playing video games and what they’ve done. And, millions of people watch this stuff.
Josh Robb:
Crazy.
Austin Wilson:
So yeah, a lot of these, these professional gamers are not only making money through competitions, on actual gaming and competition where they actually compete with others. But, they’re putting it in their videos onto YouTube and other ways, and then making money on that as well. It’s just pretty, pretty crazy.
Josh Robb:
It’s crazy.
Austin Wilson:
This trend was really exacerbated during the shutdown. So, two sports that I follow, and if you’ve listened to enough episodes, you’ve probably heard me talk about them. Are MotoGP and Formula 1. And, during the shutdown, these sports that are all around the world, they weren’t able to physically compete. So, the professional racers, they had Esports competitions. And, streamed those to keep the fans engaged while they were not actually able to race together. So, it was pretty wild.
Josh Robb:
Were you able to race against-
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, it’s just a whole-
Josh Robb:
Did they do anything like that where fans could race against them?
Austin Wilson:
Well, so actually in some… So, Twitch is one example where there’s a lot of the younger racers are the ones that are into SIM racing on the side to stay sharp. And, there’s this one SIM racer named… Well he’s actually a formula one racer for McLaren, named Lando Norris. And, he streams his racing on Twitch and stuff like that. He actually, yeah… Races with a ton of just normal people, you can join him in lobbies and stuff like that. And, race against this guy that you watch go 200 mile an hour on Sunday afternoon. So yeah, it’s pretty cool, but it’s just the fact that it’s a viable source of income for people. If you’re really good at it. Now this is probably-
Josh Robb:
It makes it harder as a parent, when you tell your kids-
Austin Wilson:
I know, when you have to talk your kids out of it-
Josh Robb:
Do something real life, because you can’t make a living off that. “Yes I can.”
[18:40] – Investing in Video Games
Austin Wilson:
And they’re like, “But mom, I make six figures.” So yeah. So, that’s crazy. So, that’s Esports and it’s growing and it’s definitely a lot bigger than it ever has been. But, I think one of the questions, and I know our listeners. One of the questions, every single person is thinking in their head is, Austin how can I invest in this trend? Right?
Josh Robb:
Disclaimer.
Austin Wilson:
I know Josh, you’re asking that. Now the disclaimer is, that none of us that I’m going to say is saying that these are great companies to invest in or great ETFs or whatever, to invest in. Always talk with your financial advisor. There’ll be able to tell you, you know, if this kind of thing fits your financial plan and your goals. But, here are some interesting ideas that I had read about and looked up. First of all, some of these ideas came from a cool article from NASDAQ, which published an article, talking about video games and investing in them.
So, you can invest in video games, through video game publishing and creation companies, and a couple that come to mind are Electronic Arts and the tickers EA and Activision Blizzard, which is one of their direct competitors. And, these are some of the biggest companies that you can invest in. EA has the whole EA sports line and stuff like that, so you’ve definitely seen products from these companies. Another way is through the technology or chip companies. So, think of things like Invidia, which we’ve probably talked about on our podcast before. They make the graphics cards for PC gaming, which PC is a growing huge industry. And if you really want to be a serious gamer, you game on a PC. You can just have way more power.
Josh Robb:
Because, the idea there is build your our own platform and add, or change the graphic cards and everything to your needs. Whereas when you buy a PlayStation four or an Xbox one, you’re set with whatever they put in there. Whereas, the PC you can make it yourself.
Austin Wilson:
Yep. So, those are the standard for gaming graphics cards, but also things like Apple and Google have games on your phone or on your computer or whatever that you can play. So, like Apple arcade has a whole… You can get a subscription to play games on that. Google stadia, I think is what it’s called. You can get a subscription to play on that. It’s kind of like a YouTube interface, it’s really, really cool from what I’ve seen, I’ve not used it myself though. Also, actual computer chips from Intel and stuff are going to be used to drive, gaming on PCs as well. Then you think of the actual hardware companies that Josh has talked about before Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo. Sony and Nintendo are not US companies, but you can invest in them through ADRs here in the US. But, Microsoft’s one that’s headquartered right here in the US, and they obviously have their Xbox. And Microsoft and Sony are launching their next generation of systems here at the end of 2020.
Austin Wilson:
And, those are actually going to be, I think, coming out, I think saw today, black Friday, you’ll be able to start getting some of these.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, they want out before the holiday season from what I heard.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly, and so there’s the Xbox series X and series S I think are the ones that are launching at the same time. And, the Xbox series X is the big, bad one. And then, there’s the PlayStation five. So, yeah go check out the state of the art consoles.
Josh Robb:
So, real quick. So, your PlayStation one PlayStation two, PlayStation three, PlayStation four, PlayStation five. And you have the Xbox-
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, makes sense, right?
Josh Robb:
Xbox 360, then you go back to the X-Box one, then you go to the Xbox X. I mean, Come on.
Austin Wilson:
I don’t even… I don’t know. They didn’t really plan that one. And then, you’ve got Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube?
Josh Robb:
GameCube, yeah.
Austin Wilson:
Nintendo Wii. Nintendo-
Josh Robb:
And, the switch.
Austin Wilson:
Switch, yeah. So, PlayStation makes the most sense to me as a numbers guy, the way that they’ve named things.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
So anyway, those are some opportunities in individual companies. There’s also some thematic ETFs that are interesting. And Josh, because you have a thing for tickers,
Josh Robb:
So wait a minute, thematic ETFs?
Austin Wilson:
You’re going to like these.
Josh Robb:
Thematic ETFs?
Austin Wilson:
Yes.
Josh Robb:
So, that’s like they’re in drama class or what are we talking about here?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, they’re really dramatic. No, they invest… These ETFs are focused on companies with a theme.
Josh Robb:
Okay.
Austin Wilson:
So thematic, so one of those is the ETFMG, that’s the company video game tech ETF makes sense.
Josh Robb:
What’s the ticker?
Austin Wilson:
The ticker is G-A-M-R.
Josh Robb:
Gamer.
Austin Wilson:
Gamer.
Josh Robb:
Nice.
Austin Wilson:
So, Josh has a thing for investing in things with cool tickers, and there’s one for you.
Josh Robb:
It’s like the DLTA one, it’s just spelt right.
[23:24] – Should You Invest in Video Games
Austin Wilson:
Exactly, yeah. And then, there’s the VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and Esports ETF. And that, is ticker E-S-P-O. So, that’s like, Esports. So kind of some cool ETFs, so Josh, the question is as a financial advisor, should you own video games companies?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, so like I always say… And it’s probably, I could just record this answer for every episode we get into these things, is it really depends, right? It depends on your goals, your priorities, your risk tolerance. But in general, a diversified portfolio you’re talking equities probably will hold something in this sector because of its impact on society. It’s a piece of society that when we talk about computers and chips and all that, that’s part of a growing trend in technology. So, should you own this? My guess is in a diversified portfolio you probably already do. But, if there’s something that you’re passionate about, I always say, “Investing things you’re passionate about is just another indicator.” If you’re passionate about it and other people are as well, it tends to be a long-term good investment. But again, you really need to talk with your advisor, make sure it fits with your plan and your strategy.
[24:51] – Do Josh & Austin Play Video Games?
Austin Wilson:
And yeah, like Josh was saying, if you are invested in something that’s already kind of diversified. So, think like a big mutual fund, that’s kind of passive and holds what the market holds or S&P 500 ETF. You’re already holding Apple and Google and Microsoft, significantly. So, you have some exposure to this trend already. Now, if you want to go above and beyond that, and something more specific that is totally an option as well, but yeah. Talk to your advisor. So Josh, the question is, what video games did you grow up playing? Did you play in college? Do you play now? Do you play anything or I don’t know. What do you got going on?
Josh Robb:
Good questions.
Austin Wilson:
Maybe you just, maybe you just read books and you’re one of those people that everyone wants to be.
Josh Robb:
I actually do Tic-Tac-Toe on papers. All I do and that’s it, but really growing up, I remember two things. The first video game system we ever owned or bought was the original Nintendo. And we played that, I have four siblings. So, the five of us, we had one system, we would play together had a lot of fun. But we also, I remember as a kid had, I’m guessing it was my uncle’s old Atari. Which was really neat to just plug in every once in a while and play the old games from the 80s and the late 70s. talking about this Space Invaders and those things. So, that was a fun one to do as a kid. Because, it was something different, it felt like it was retro and old school. But-
Austin Wilson:
Back then it was a retro.
Josh Robb:
It was, it’s even more so now. But then, heading into college, Halo was big, and so as guys in college, we played a lot of Halo and Call of Duty. We did a couple other things, but Xbox and Xbox 360 were the things that I did in college. And then, now I’ve matured, and the majority of my time is spent playing with my kids. And so, depending on what mood they’re in, I still have my Xbox 360 from college. And so, we have some more Lego oriented games. So, Lego Harry Potter, Lego star Wars, those types of things. And so, they like those games are pretty fun and pretty tame for kids. And then my… Like I mentioned, my older kids love Fortnite and I will play that with them every once in a while.
Austin Wilson:
Gotcha.
Josh Robb:
What about you Austin?
Austin Wilson:
So I growing up and really, I was getting into a video game age, the sort of late 90s. And, the late 90s, the big bad boy on the block was the Nintendo 64. So, my parents got us a Nintendo 64, the green version with the special red chip. I forget what that’s called, that allows you to play things like Donkey Kong and a lot of controllers and games and stuff like that. So, we had a Nintendo 64.
Josh Robb:
GoldenEye?
Austin Wilson:
I have played GoldenEye in my older ages, but I was not allowed and we did not own it when I was actually nine. So, but I have since played it and I do count. I still have our Nintendo 64 at my house now with an adapter, so I can play it on my big TV, but I should grab that game on eBay. So anyway, my mom, so when she got us this system, when we were kids, she would stay up, unwrap it every night. Well, before they gave it to us for Christmas, and plug it in and play it after we all went to bed, and then, rewrap it, put it back in the box until the next day, until she actually gave it to us. She was obsessed with Donkey Kong.
Josh Robb:
That’s hilarious.
Austin Wilson:
Oh my goodness, it was hilarious. And so, if you think of donkey Kong 64, you can actually like swing from tree to tree. And when my mom… I can still picture her doing this. She would have the control in her hand and she would like swing with the monkey as she went. And, it was so funny.
Josh Robb:
I feel like there’s something with parents, it seems like their hands coordination has to involve a lot of movements.
Austin Wilson:
It’s more physical.
Josh Robb:
When they’re trying to make you jump and run or whatever.
Austin Wilson:
Right. So, I started with that, and then they got us a Nintendo GameCube, when we were a little bit older, once that came out. And, that was a lot of fun, my brother and I would play Super Smash Brothers Melee until forever. I mean, that was the best game on there, period. So, that was a lot of fun, and then I got a free Xbox 360, because it had rendering of death for my friend and I was able to fix it, which don’t ask me how I did it. It was crazy, and it involved putting some pennies in it and wrapping it in a blanket to let things melt together.
And it worked for years. And then, so I had that into college and obviously in college, things were… Call of duty was huge, man we put a lot of Madden and sports games. And I was always into racing games, so like Forza, but then I actually sold it and did not have video games for years until I think it was about a year ago. My wife surprised me and got me an Xbox one for my birthday. And since then, I have an Xbox one and I pretty much, I think I only have racing games for it. But, I have a full racing seat and steering wheel and stuff like that. So, I can actually do some SIM racing on it, so it’s kind of fun. I don’t really have a ton of time for it.
Josh Robb:
That would explain why you’re really good at parallel parking.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, that’s right. Hey nowadays, you don’t even need to be good at parallel parking. You can just push a button in your car will do it for you.
Josh Robb:
Maybe it’s like an actual SIM, no, it’s not automated, but there’s like some person in a video game that whenever someone presses a button-
Austin Wilson:
They’re doing it for you?
Josh Robb:
They do it for you. So, it’s a secret of the industry.
Austin Wilson:
There’s a data center with just drivers sitting in India or somewhere. That’d be really funny. So anyway, that is video games, it is definitely a growing industry. It’s something that’s constantly changing and it is something that you could legitimately make money at, or you can legitimately spend money at. But either way, it’s a big chunk of our economy, much bigger than it used to be. And, it’s what the cool kids are doing now. It’s not what the nerds are doing, right?
Josh Robb:
That’s right, that’s what I say because I play them. All the cool people are playing them.
Austin Wilson:
So, I guess this is just a reminder that as always check out our free gift to you, it’s a brief list of eight principles of timeless investing. It’s on our website. These are overarching investment themes meant to keep you on track to meet your long-term goals. Check that out. Josh, how can people help us grow this podcast?
Josh Robb:
Yep. Like always we say, if you love our episodes, make sure you subscribe that way you get an alert every Thursday, when we bring a new episode out. If you are on the Apple podcast, leave us a review that helps us rank higher. So, more people will find us in the searches. And then, if you have any topics like today, which was a shout out to actually my wife, Stephanie, is the one that came up with this idea. So, we love doing topics, if someone says, “This is something that I always wondered about.” Shoot us an email at hello@theinvesteddads.com. And, we’d love to talk about whatever you’re thinking is interesting. Also, if you know somebody that’s into video games, do you think they’d like to hear this? Make sure you share this episode with them.
Austin Wilson:
All right, well until next Thursday, have a great week.
Josh Robb:
All right, talk to you later.
Austin Wilson:
Bye.
Outro:
Thank you for listening to The Invested Dads Podcast. This episode has ended, but your journey towards a better financial future, doesn’t have to head over to theinvesteddads.com to access all the links and resources mentioned in today’s show. If you enjoyed this episode and we had a positive impact on your life, leave us a review, click subscribe, and don’t miss the next episode. Josh Robb and Austin Wilson work for Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. All opinions expressed by Josh Austin or any podcast guests, are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management.
This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions. Clients of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. There is no guarantee that the statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Indices are not available for direct investment. Any investor who attempts to mimic the performance of an index would incur fees and expenses, which would reduce returns. Securities investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principle. There is no assurance that any investment plan or strategy will be successful.
